World Steel Association has reported that Indian steel output declined by about 0.3% to 27.33 million tonne (MT) during the first quarter (January-March) of the calendar year 2019, as compared to last year same period's 27.40 MT of crude steel. India is the second-largest producer of steel in the world after China. China produced 80.33 MT during January-March 2019.
As per report, India's output of steel in January stood at 9.18 MT, dip of 1.9%, as compared with 9.35 MT in the corresponding month of 2018. In 2018, India's annual production of crude steel had stood at 106.5 MT, up 4.9% from 101.5 MT it had produced in 2017.
India has set an ambitious target of scaling up its steel production capacity to 300 MT. In May 2017, the Union Cabinet had approved two policies, including the National Steel Policy 2017 that envisaged Rs 10 lakh crore investment to take capacity to 300 million tonne by 2030-31, to give a boost to the domestic steel sector.
The World Steel Association is one of the largest industry associations in the world. Its members represent around 85% of the world's steel production, including over 160 steel producers with nine of the 10 largest steel companies, national and regional steel industry associations, and steel research institutes.